Tuesday Tales: From the Word BLACK

Welcome to this week’s edition of Tuesday Tales, the blog where select authors share their work in progress with you. Each week, we write to a word or picture prompt. Word prompt scenes are limited to 400 words! This week the prompt is BLACK.

Enjoy!

Dressed in the voyageur trappings Guy had given her, Izzy bid a tearful goodbye to Sophie and Aline.

“Are you sure you have to go?” her mother-in -law asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Think of the baby.” The woman wrung her hands.

“Maman, a wife’s place is at her husband’s side. In these perilous times, we must present a confident, united front to our allies as well as to our enemies.” She pulled the woman to her and kissed her on both cheeks. “Henri will keep you and the inn safe, while Guy, Luc, and Felix Rouet will do the same for me. Now, go back inside before you catch cold. We’ll be back in eight weeks, nine at the latest.”

Henry put one arm around his wife and another around Sophie.

“Go with God,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. “I would wish to be with you, but this makes more sense. I’ll keep an eye on them and the settlement. By the time you get back, spring will be right around the corner.” He pulled the women inside and closed the door to the house.

Izzy walked down from the wooden veranda and trudged through the snow to the waiting sleigh. Felix, one of the men who’d been in Guy’s unit and who now worked the land, a bachelor hoping to find a wife among the first boatload of girls from France, sat in the driver’s seat, with the Huron scout, Luc, by his side. Guy waited next to the sleigh with a small wooden bench to help her up. Oil lanterns on the veranda and in the hands of the men who would stay behind provided the only light. Not a moon nor any stars relieved the black sky.

“Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind?” Guy asked, the wind blowing the mist of his words away. “We’ll have snow today, but we can’t delay. We’ll go as far as Richard Emond’s estate today. They’re expecting us by late afternoon. At least your first night will be a comfortable one.”

“Being by your side is all the comfort I need.”

She cupped his cheek and kissed him before stepping onto the stool and pulling herself up into the sleight.

“Sit behind the driver,” Guy said. “It will provide some protection from the driving snow.” He climbed in beside her and pulled the heavy robe over them. “On y va.”

That’s it. See you next week. Don’t forget to check out all the other posts on  Tuesday Tales.